The Eye of the Storm

"Don't Cry for Me-"

No, not Argentina, sorry! Was almost about to break into song there, but I'll spare everyone!

Just a little something to bring you in he-he!

Anyway, I've just been feeling different lately, especially with the things that I feel like writing about. I've told you this in the past that I love writing. It is a very calm stress reliever for me at many times. However, when thinking of something else to write about in future posts, I've been thinking about some different perspectives and topics.

The title of this blog wasn't just a sly hook, but there is a relation I would like to make to the song it references to how I've been thinking about life and myself. I don't know if a lot of you feel this way, if you do, I really hope that I can shed more light on some of the facts associated with these feelings.

Over the past little while, I've been doing extensive internal analysis with myself. Others would coin it as "Soul Searching", but the meaning is the same. What I do as a missionary is invite people to Jesus Christ and teach them learn about the gospel he established and how it has hereby been restored.

I'm telling you this to let you know how I feel, and then to hopefully connect with something that you, the reader, might be feeling. Teaching people about the gospel is fairly easy, in actuality. As we know from the Bible, and other scriptures, the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit testifies and influences truth through everyone. Teaching is easy, because the Holy Spirit helps it to be easy. We, as missionaries, are just messengers and vessels through which the Spirit can be felt. The essence of true conversion is the testimony that the Holy Ghost gives to each and every person. We, the missionaries, can't convert anyone-that's the Holy Spirit's job. Ours is only to create the opportunities. People will accept it or not, and that's one of the benefits, at least for our feelings as teachers, from people's agency.

I don't want to get off on a tangent about the Holy Ghost right now, because I will discuss him and his role in depth another time, but I want to make a related between teaching people and being a missionary, and then still being human and a normal person.

I made a reference to the song, Don't Cry for Me Argentina, from the Broadway musical Evita, because it has an interesting message, and I just felt like I could connect with some of the feelings I've gotten from it. I don't know why this happened. I've been involved with that musical in the past, but something about it really has been pressing on my mind lately.

The song relates Eva Peron's feelings to the people of Argentina. She first relates her experiences as she aspired for more in life, and how she had to climb to the top for freedom. She didn't like the poor life, and so she wanted to reach for the stars. She then exhorts them, the people, not to weep for her, and that she'll always be with them. Like I said, I don't know why this certain song has been coming to my mind lately, but within the song I think there is some very special messages for life.

I don't want you, the reader, to take my relation and comparison to this famous musical creation literally. I want you to actually listen. Listen to the feelings and emotions that come into your heart if you ever get to listen to the song.

It won't be easy, you'll think it strange. When I try to explain how I feel...

I hope you focus on the feelings and emotions that the tune and tone of the song bring. Sometimes in life we feel that we can't properly explain ourselves to people. I don't know what the reason may be. But we try our hardest to be true to ourselves and to try and grow as individuals.

I find myself a lot of times like a small boat, sitting in the middle of a hurricane-the eye of the storm, and looking all around me at the treacherous winds. Every time I might try to navigate out of the storm, I can't because of the circling barriers of wind. I'm not broken or shattered, because I'm in the eye of the storm, but I'm not going anywhere either. It's this whirlwind wind of repetition. It may be with experiences, thoughts, feelings, life-whatever you may have felt this way about. Sometimes we just have to think inward and pull ourselves up.

The song I referenced, disregarding the context in the actual play, has a very powerful, and individualistic view. I think we need to reach for the stars. We may be in a storm of hatred or uncertainty, but I think if we just first, trust in Jesus Christ, and, second, realize that we're more important than we think we are, we can go far and reach for that freedom.

I haven't fully navigated out of the storm. Life is a storm, and I think, at least for me personally, I'm going to be battling with Life's winds for a while, but I take comfort in the fact that I'm still sailing and that, even though there may be some fierce winds, each of us control whether our boat shatters, or whether we keep on navigating.

I testify of the power of the scriptures. They are truly a map to life. I know that Jesus is my savior and that he can always help us through that storm way. I'm not perfect, and I'm still pressing on and navigating, but I take comfort in the fact that I don't have to navigate alone. I have wonderful friends and family with me, taking this treacherous journey with me.

Finally, my wonderful readers, thank you for continuing to take comfort from the words that I speak. I really hope and intend for them to be a loving comfort for you, and for them to make you feel a bit better. Know that a caring friend is never far away if you need one. I love all of you, and I'm grateful for the opportunity and the chance to make the journey a little bit brighter. I do love the last part of the song that I've mentioned earlier, and that is what I'll leave you with:

"But all you have to do is look at me to know, That every word is true..."

Don't Cry for Me Argentina Lyric Excerpts
Copyright Andrew Lloyd Webber

Life's Conundrum Undone

It seems a lot in life, we focus a lot on something that shouldn't receive so much attention or worried feelings about. We forget sometimes as humans that we are living beings and are part of the entire natural world on the earth. Sometimes we fear or focus on death as that final crack of the gavel on the judges stand, or the end of a tape that's playing, but it's not. I guess it's just that fear of the unknown that is really the issue or the reason why the aspect and eventuality of death is so jarring. It is a scary thought though, especially if you aren't part of any religious organization or church the preaches there is life after death. As you may have guessed, I'd be one member of one of those religious organizations :)!

You've heard me mention the church that I'm a member, and currently a missionary for, many times I'm sure. For the purposes of this blog I'll refer to it as the Mormon Church, as that seems to be the name most people recognize. Anyway-I'd like to touch on our basic beliefs about death, life, and what we teach and believe to the people that we meet. It would be scary honestly-if I didn't have the knowledge that I do now through being in the church. It would be a heart-wrenching experience to lose a family member in the natural way of life, and not know where they are.

Have you ever asked those life questions to yourself? Where did we come from? Where do we go when we die? Why is there suffering on this earth? Why did my family member have to pass away? What am I supposed to do? Why is life so hard? I could go on, but I think you get the picture.

We know from the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, that Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father (God), have made promises with different groups of people and given us teachings down through the ages to be happy and sound in our lives today. Jesus Christ then came down and established his church, called apostles, and ministered unto the people. Eventually, after three years, he atoned for the sins of the world in the Garden of Gethsemane, as recorded in the New Testament, and was crucified on Calvary the following day. We know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, but why is he exactly? Well, here we go!

Our gospel teaches us (The Bible and the Book of Mormon-which will be elaborated on in the near future), that we all lived with heaven with Heavenly Premortal Life. In this life, we lived as spirit children of our Heavenly Father, but we weren't like our Father in an important way. He had a resurrected, perfect body of flesh and bones, and we were still spirits. Because of this, our Heavenly Father, out of pure love for us, created a plan for use to be able to have the chance to become like him, receive a body, and grow in many ways.

The plan is labelled the Plan of Salvation or the Plan of Happiness in the Bible and Book of Mormon. That is God's purpose in a nutshell:

"For behold, this is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39, Pear of Great Price). 

To accomplish this, God instructed Jesus Christ to create the Earth for us to be able to receive bodies and to grow with them through the tests of mortality. We needed a savior though, to pay the price of sin, death, and suffering that would result from being born into a mortal world. As you could guess, Jesus Christ volunteered to be the savior and pledged all the glory to the Father as he suffered for the sins of the world to protect the agency of man. But another volunteered as well. Lucifer told the Father saying,

"Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor." (Moses 4:1, Pearl of Great Price).

Because of this, and his desire to rebel and take away man's agency, he and everyone who followed him was cast out of heaven. Those who chose to follow Christ and thereby chose to come down to earth to receive a body, and take part in this wonderful plan. Because you are here, you chose to follow Christ :D!

From the Bible, we have the account of the creation of course and of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They both were created in God's image, and they were perfectly innocent and lived in God's presence. Eventually though, Eve was tempted by the serpent or Satan to partake of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil-something God had forbidden them to do. Because of this, Adam had to choose to either remain in the Garden and follow the second commandment, or follow Eve and thereby doing, fulfill the first and higher commandment to "multiply and replenish the earth."

As you could guess, he chose the latter and thereby introduced sin, suffering  and mortality into the worlds, as was the plan from the beginning. That is our purpose of life on earth-to learn grow, and find peace with God and to gain a body of flesh and bones just like the Father has. That is the reason we have commandments from Heavenly Father and why we have our God-given agency. We have it so we can learn and grow, and learn to come to our Heavenly Father in love and dependence. Because of our fallen state however, we need a savior, Jesus Christ, to pay the price of sin and suffering, and to also overcome physical and spiritual death.

Because Jesus Christ came down to earth, as stated before, atoned for our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane, and was killed and risen from the dead-we will all be resurrected and can become clean from our sins by using his Atonement, and coming unto him. Christ will forgive our sins if we have faith in Him and his Atonement, repent and try our best to correct our wrongs, be baptized like he was by John the Baptist, receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and continue enduring and using Christ and God to help and love us!

That's a lot of information, I know. But doesn't it make sense? Why would we have this beautiful Earth, the millions upon millions of universes, and all of this evidence of a higher power? Doesn't that give you hope? Maybe comfort for a loved one? I hope so. But I'll explain the last part of this "Plan" before I digress.

We are all mortal, and unfortunately we all must die eventually. After death, our spirits will go to the Spirit World, as described by the Apostle Peter in Peter chapter 4 in the New Testament, and we will either live in a state of peace or misery depending on how we lived through our life. This isn't the end, only a waiting period where the people who've accepted Christ and have lived good lives can rest, and where the people who haven't, and who live in doubt and sometimes misery, will have a chance to accept Christ!

After Christ's Second Coming, everyone will eventually be resurrected, never to die again, and having perfect and immortal bodies. We will return to God's presence to be judged according to the works and desires that we had on this Earth life. If we repented, and tried our best to do good in life, then we will receive mercy.

After being judged, we will go into one of three kingdoms of Heaven: Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial. The Celestial Kingdom, or the glory of the sun, is where the people who've accepted Christ, and fulfilled the tenants above the best they could, and have accepted his Atonement, will go to reside with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. The Terrestrial Kingdom, or the glory of the moon, is those who lived honorable lives, but haven't accepted the fullness of the gospel. Finally, The Telestial Kingdom, or the glory of the stars, is for those who continued in their sins and did not repent in this life (1 Corinthians 15, New Testament).

Our goal should be the Celestial Kingdom, and we all hope that everyone can get there. I testify that this Plan is divinely inspired and is so special and great in going through life's hardships and challenges. I love you guys! I hope that this all makes sense. If not, ask questions :D! I think this truly is the unwinding that we all need to "Life's Conundrum", and is how we, as a people, can have hope and love toward each other, and happiness and faith for the future!

Love you guys, and have a fantastic week!

Love: An Eternal Remedy for Pain

I don't know about anyone else, but I just love love. Does that make sense? No? He-he, well I'll explain that statement! It doesn't matter if you're a parent, a child; student, or spouse, a sister, or a brother-we all can feel love. There are some people in the world-maybe even you reading these words right now, who unfortunately haven't gotten to feel loved or cared for. I'm truly sorry if you haven't, but I hope that with this, and as you read my words, that you can feel that love that I have for you already.

You may ask, "Well how can this person
who I don't know already love me?" Good question, and here's the answer: It's because I know that everyone has worth, and most people, if you’re really look deep enough, just need a hug or at least some form of affection or acknowledgement. Am I professing to be this wonderful, love-filled person, who just goes around and hugs everyone? No. I do love hugs, but I'm still a human. I still get frustrated, upset, and impatient with many things-including people, but that's part of life and part of being a human. I may not be able to look at everyone I meet and just be a loving person upfront, but I do try my best.

I really like how the dictionary defines love. It's simple, sweet, and you can really feel love for the definition, if that isn't an epitome of a cliché'. Love is defined as a profoundly, tender, passionate affection for another person. It's really easy isn't it, to become frustrated with someone? It seems that it is really easy for us to look at a person and automatically start finding what's wrong with him or her. We all do it-I do it, no one is innocent from this, but it's something that we can improve and work on as we grow closer to one another.

Think of how much different life would be-how different the world would be, if people took a step back, and got over themselves. Remember that as I'm talking, this is applying to everyone including myself :)! But think about it. Think about the conflicts, the economic condition, the programs, the welfare, the poverty, disease, despair, and fear-All of it. What would fix everything? Do I need to say it? Apparently I do, because the world hasn't gotten it yet unfortunately. It's love, my friends.

As a member and representative of Jesus Christ, and of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I've had the opportunity to study the Bible, and the other main book of scripture that we use called-The Book of Mormon. Now I won't get into too much detail about the book just yet, as I want to focus on this overlying idea of love, but basically the Book of Mormon is an ancient and past record of the people and prophets of the American continent that lived here many generations ago. Similar to the Bible-which is an ancient record of the prophets and people that lived in Egypt, Israel, and Jerusalem-the Book of Mormon goes hand-in-hand with the Bible to relate truths that the Bible leaves slightly vague or unexplained.

Within the Book of Mormon, near the end, one of the prophets is describing Jesus Christ, and what his example and his teachings should mean to us. I'm going to quote from the prophet Moroni-one of the last prophets in this record, and this is in the 7th chapter of Moroni near the end of the Book of Mormon:

"And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things...But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him..." (Moroni 7: 45, 47-Book of Mormon)

Let's think about that for a moment. So charity is the pure love of Christ. Love. And it endureth all things and is forever. My readers, friends, fellow ministers, and loving family-Love is the antidote to pain, and is the remedy for any and all situations that cause grief. I hope that if you're reading this, you've felt loved-because I love you. I'm not perfect. No. But through my experiences up to this point in life, I know that to feel loved and cared for is one of the most special and intimate feelings in the universe.

I testify and exhort you to try to love a little more. But more important than trying to love others, you need to start loving yourself as well. If you can't love yourself, you can't love other people. We're all different people. This ignorant status-quo paradigm that the world has shoved into our faces is absolutely and irrevocably false, and it's getting worse and worse. You. Yes you reading these words right now. You are special; this is me telling you right now, that you are loved! Look in the mirror, and give yourself a hug from me :)!

That's something I pray for everyday-to be able to have a better capacity to love, because I don't have the best control in the world-who does? But I know that Jesus Christ loves me, and so does our Heavenly Father. It may be hard. I know that some people have a harder time of loving themselves and other people than others-I'm probably one of them, but just remember:

"Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thysel: I am the Lord." (Leviticus 18:19-Old Testament)

It's really hard sometimes I know that, but just stay strong, and if anything just love yourself and realize that you are loved ^_^!

I would finally exhort you to seek out for people to give you love-sometimes you just need someone to say something nice to you, or to acknowledge you. I would put my invitation out there that if anyone needs some care, you can always seek Jesus Christ...and the Elders :D!

I love you my friends, and fare thee well till next time!

An Ever Constant Companion

When's the last time you've looked for beauty? Have you ever stared out a window, just to see the motions of the air? The rain on the street? Streaking lights of the cars flying by? How about the trees moving in the wind, or leaves falling to the ground? The simple streams or short straits catch your eye? You ever stay outside or get up early to see the rays of sun rise and fall over the horizon? There is beauty all around us.

In a world of many changing ideals-increased conflicts, wars, crime, political bravado, falling values, and disintegrating families-it's hard. The noise and the contention of the world is the driving nail into the smooth board of our lives. It's ever increasing. And more and more nails are being driven in. Sometimes we're moving so fast we can't breathe, or take a second to think.

Time is that eternal mystery, and the sole controlling force of our lives. Can we control it? No. Can we explain it? Temporarily-yes, but eventually it ascends all explanation. Is time bad? No. Time is control, and is a partner to go through this life and take on the trials of ourselves. Everything can be healed with time, and by using Jesus Christ's example to accept his love. Time lets us remember, but also lets us forget. It seems to speed up or slow down-sometimes disappears, but it's always there reminding us that, while it is our companion, we eventually have to face the end of our journey, and follow in Christ's footsteps.

We miss so much because we focus on things that really don't have any value. Time is a neutral, universal law, and like I said-a companion, but if we let it, our time can run out, and we might have missed the beauty around us, and the love we could feel from Christ, family, friends, and spouses. It's amazing how much we fascinate about time, and the thoughts about the future, the present-time travel, or prophecy, and seeing the future.

I'm taken back to one of my favorite films of all time-Robert Zemetricks', Back to the Future. In it, young Marty McFly is obvious feeling disappointed with his life, and his seemingly unlucky status, and fear of rejection, but through the power of "science", and the whimsical genius of Doc. Emmett Brown, he travels back in time to when his parents are young. Through different experiences, he learns that while the world and time are always changing, family is always timeless, and love transcends all barriers.

You may ask what any of this has to do with anything? Well, I pose my opening question to you again? When's the last time you looked for beauty? I invite you to look out the window next time, or give your brother or spouse a big, warm hug. Maybe snuggle a bit. We're all walking with our different companion-time, Christ, and our families  and our journey through this mortal life is ever getting shorter, and nearing it's end.

I quote a recognizable truth that's been said, as to the original author-I know not, but regardless of who first pronounced it-the truth of the words is ever there.

"Living without Love and Hope isn't really living at all, and is an empty life, full of heartache" 

Please make sure that you don't let time slip away from you, and that you spend time with those you love most and give them your attention and your affections, so that you can take this journey of time together, and look back and say: "Thank you, time, you've been my friend, and showed me how to love, and now I can go with you to rest." I love you all-my family, friends, and fellow missionaries here in New York. I know and testify that we are doing a wonderful work, and that we are truly blessed and thought for by many, many people-including our Heavenly Father and his son-our brother, Jesus Christ.

God be with you, Till we meet again.